Tax Defaulters Owe N254 Billion Says FIRS

• Tax Defaulters Owe N254 Billion Says FIRS

Mr Babatunde Fowler, the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) on Wednesday said 23,141 tax defaulters owe N254 billion in tax liabilities.

The chairman, who was at the 49th Annual Accountant Conference organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in Abuja, said the agency was able to recover over N97.7 billion through its collaboration with Deposit Money Banks.

Fowler said, “As of today, there are a total of 23,141 tax defaulters who are yet to come forward to clear their outstanding liabilities of about N254bn.

“The FIRS in collaboration with the banks has started engaging in compliance measures with regard to the tax defaulters and their accounts.

“Failure to carry out this directive will result in the banks being sanctioned according to Section 31 subsection 1-3 and 32 respectively of the FIRS Act 2007.”

He further explained that the sanctions would begin with the agency delisting defaulting financial institutions from the FIRS collection list.

According to him, failure to comply would be seen as an economic crime against the nation.

Meanwhile, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a 2.2 or 44 percent increase in Value Added Tax (VAT) to 7.2 percent, from 5 percent.